U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,829 issued Jul. 16, 1991 to the applicant discloses a system using a single chute in a multi-story building to collect into separate large receptacles different categories of wastes already separated by the tenant for recycling. A turntable carries a large receptacle for each category of waste. Control means on each floor enables a tenant to operate the turntable remotely to position a selected receptacle beneath the chute to receive a particular category of waste. A controller and interlocks on the chute access doors prevent conflicts between floors.
PCT international application Publication No. WO 92/01615 of 6 Feb. 1992 by applicant discloses a reciprocating ram to compress the contents of a receptacle so that the receptacle will hold more waste before replacement is required. After waste has been added to a receptacle, if it is of the type to be compressed, the receptacle is moved beneath the ram, the ram is forced down to compress the contents and then retracted.
Because a low power gearmotor is employed to generate considerable pressure at low cost, the reciprocating ram motion is slow. The system is out of use during the time the receptacle is moved to the ram and the ram is operating. Tenants waiting to deposit waste become impatient and are tempted to comingle all their different wastes into one receptacle if they are forced to wait while compacting takes place. The enhanced control system of this invention overcomes this problem by eliminating much tenant waiting.